By Luke Voogt
Geelong’s lobby groups must give new council chief Martin Cutter “breathing room” before “banging down his door”, according to a councillor.
Anthony Aitken wanted the incoming CEO to first build relationships at City Hall before spending time “with external stakeholders“.
“For the first three to six months, let us get on with our areas of responsibly and priority,” Cr Aitken said.
Cr Aitken was part of the panel that chose Mr Cutter from “40 high-quality applicants”.
“It’s a coup to get a person of such quality to commit to moving to Geelong,” he said.
The fallout from the State Government’s sacking of council in 2016 made being CEO more complex than “needed to be”, which until now had deterred some “good-quality applicants,” Cr Aitken said.
He expected Mr Cutter would “quickly“ review Geelong council’s budget and city plan when he started in early June.
Groups like Committee for Geelong and the city’s chamber of commerce could become a distraction for the CEO, Cr Aitken warned.
Mr Cutter would also need to resolve City Hall’s 18-month dispute with its employees over an enterprise bargaining agreement, Cr Aitken said.
“We have to have some stability in our organisation.”
Council voted on Tuesday night to employ Mr Cutter for five years.
He will replace the Kelvin Spiller, who vacated the position on 29 March.
City Hall investment and attraction director Brett Luxford will remain as acting CEO until Mr Cutter’s arrival.
Mr Cutter was acting CEO at the City of Melbourne and previously worked in several senior positions in the finance industry.
“It was a very strong field of applicants and the new council is very excited by the prospect of working with Martin,“ Geelong Mayor Bruce Harwood said.
Mr Cutter said he was proud and excited about the role.
“The area is undergoing significant change and I can feel the energy the new council is bringing to this challenge.“
